Review: Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

Marguerite Caine has done the impossible, traveling to alternate dimensions with the Firebird—the brilliant invention of her parents, her boyfriend, Paul, and their friend Theo. But she has also caught the attention of enemies willing to kidnap, blackmail, and even kill to use the Firebird for themselves.

When Paul’s soul is splintered into four pieces—pieces that are trapped within Pauls in other dimensions—Marguerite will do anything, and travel anywhere, to save him. But the price of his safe return is steep. If she doesn’t sabotage her parents in multiple universes, Paul will be lost forever.

Unwilling to sacrifice her family, Marguerite enlists the brilliant Theo to help. The two forge a plan to save Paul and the Firebird, but succeeding means outsmarting a genius and risking not only their lives but also the lives of their counterparts in every other dimension.

Their mission takes them to the most dangerous universes yet: a war-torn San Francisco, the criminal underworld of New York City, and a glittering Paris where another Marguerite hides a shocking secret. Each leap brings Marguerite closer to saving Paul—but her journey reveals dark truths that lead her to doubt the one constant she’s found between worlds: their love for each other.

Review:

Ten Thousand Skies Above you pretty much was an extension of A Thousand Pieces of You. Like a long continuation without a break between books. At least that’s what it felt like to me. Pretty much there’s a brief rehash of A Thousand Pieces of You at the beginning with a lot of exclamation marks so there’s no need to reread (so yay for that!). While it’s not a bad thing I wish it just moved forward and covered what we know as we continue to read. To be honest, I found that there were some parts that were dragging even though I love exploring more different possibilities and seeing the outcome. Marguerite still feels a bit guilty about what happen in the Russiaverse and I loved that we got to revisit that world and see the consequence of her actions. I wish that we got more screen time with the original Paul before he goes off again. I mean when they finally admit they like each other and you’re just like ugh my ship…why are you breaking up my ship? There were definitely surprising outcomes in some of these different universes like the possibility of Theo and Marguerite (noooo!!!), so yeah that was a major blow for Paul. My heart still went out to Paul and I liked that we got to learn more about him, even though it seems like we already know so much about him in A Thousand Pieces of You.

So her parents. I loved that her parents are still the cool, nerdy parents that is okay with her and Paul’s relationship. You’d think the aftermath of A Thousand Pieces of You would make them stricter but they’re the farthest from being strict. In fact they encourage her to be together with him. While there were parts that seemed uhhh to me, I really enjoyed this novel. Most time traveling novels are hard to follow because of the scientific physics jargon, however, the time traveling aspect of Ten Thousand Skies Above You remains simple and I liked that it didn’t skimp out on exploring different possibilities.

Favorite passages:

Fate and mathematics don’t only bring you back to the people you love. They can also bring you to the people you hate.

“In an infinite multiverse, everything that can happen, does happen.”

“Ten thousand skies, and a million worlds, and it still wouldn’t be enough for me to share with you. Nothing less than forever will do.”